Fire and Blood
by Allie Salvatore
Summary: "They're running from and running to." Rather bittersweet, slightly ooc. Doctor/Master, Theta/Koschei.


**Disclaimer:** Do not own. If I did, the Master would be back for the special, not that blonde (censored in case you do like rose tyler).

**A/N: **Rather ooc and probably doesn't make much sense.

* * *

**Fire and Blood**

Theta ran when he looked into the Untempered Schism. He ran for a long time, as fast as he could, because he couldn't understand the fire and the blood and the destruction and the screams that would haunt him forever.

**0000**

Koschei didn't run when he looked into the schism. In fact, he didn't do anything at all; he didn't cry or scream or try to hide, he only stood there, watching as time unfolded itself beautifully in purple and blue and red swirls – red like the blood in the hands of the man in the schism, who looked down in sorrow at what he had done.

**0000**

There is blood on the Master's hands and he doesn't know if it's his or the Doctor's and it scares him to no end.  
The drums are beating loudly inside his head and he falls on his knees, giving in to the pain. He closes his eyes, hands gripping his hair in a deadlock grip, nails digging into the skin of his skull in a vain attempt to make the noise stop.  
The Doctor's body lies on the floor, his blood dripping through the metal grid of the TARDIS floor.

**0000**

There was blood on Theta's hands and his eyes stared wide and scared at the result of his anger. He had done it to protect Koschei or to protect himself or to hurt the boy who had tormented them for such a long time— he didn't know. Koschei stood beside him, watching him with fearful eyes. He wasn't scared of Theta or what Theta could do; rather, he was scared for him. He was afraid of what would happen to them, to Theta, if anyone found out what had happened.

"What do we do now?" he asked, in a low whisper that seemed to echo through the silver leaves of the trees.

Theta shook his head, snapping out of his mindspace, and looked at his friend. He knelt in front of the river, washed the blood away, and then, standing up in a quick, sudden movement, grabbed Koschei's hand.

"Now we run."

And run they did, not looking back because the boy they killed was still too young to regenerate and his blood gave a morbid look to the red grass.

**0000**

The Doctor, like most Timelords, doesn't dream. Or at least that's what he tells his companions whenever they ask him what he dreams about.

The truth is that he dreams almost every night of red, like the fire and the blood and the grass of a Gallifreyan afternoon.

**0000**

The Doctor ran as he looked at Gallifrey for the last time. He ran as fast as he could, as far as he could, and hasn't stopped since, because now he could understand what he had seen – could understand very well the fire and the blood and the destruction and the screams that still haunt him to this day.

**0000**

The Master watches silently as the Doctor patches himself up calmly. The silence is killing him, distorting the beat of the drums into fear and anxiety instead of anger. He knows his fate after his last –almost successful– attempt to kill the Doctor would earn him a straight passage to some uninhabited planet in which he could only cause harm to himself and he knows he deserves it.

Finally, the Doctor looks back at him with a sigh. "How are you?"

And that is the last thing the Master had expected to hear.

**0000**

The Master ran, not daring to look at Gallifrey for a last time. He ran as fast as he could, stopping only as he reached safety at the end of the universe, because he couldn't bear to see the fire and the blood and the destruction and the screams that had haunted him since he was an eight-year-old and looked into the Untempered Schism.

**0000**

They're running from and running to. Running from their pasts and running to each other.

**0000**

The grass felt prickly on their backs, through the thin fabric of the orange robes as they lay on top of it staring at the sky. It was an arid, hot afternoon and they didn't feel like going back inside the Academy – Theta had insisted on watching the pinkish clouds on the orange sky and Koschei had agreed, despite thinking it was stupid, only to be with him.

"Sometimes I wonder what is like out there." Koschei murmured, making Theta open his eyes. They were a dark, muddy brown and stared hazily at Koschei.

"What do you mean?" he whispered back, delicately, intertwining their fingers before laying them over his chest. His hearts were beating wildly against his ribcage and he blushed softly.

Koschei looked at him with a sad smile. His silvery eyes had stars in them and a promise of running away. "It's nothing. Never mind."

Theta raised one eyebrow and recognized that smile. "Is it your father again?

The other boy shrugged, tilting his head. "No. Yes. I don't know…" he sighed. "Sometimes I just want to run."

"And run we will." Theta promised and, not even for one second, did Koschei doubt he meant it.

**end**


End file.
